Can an art that originated geographically outside of China (external) become an art that originate internally (within) China? No, I don't believe that's possible. The confusion between subtle and softer arts like Tai Chi, Hsing I and Pagua with internal and harder arts like Shaolin with external is common but wrong.

Can an art that originated geographically outside of China (external) become an art that originate internally (within) China? No, I don't believe that's possible. The confusion between subtle and softer arts like Tai Chi, Hsing I and Pagua with internal and harder arts like Shaolin with external is common but wrong.

I (we) would love you to expand on this theory

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A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.

If internalising movement makes a martial art soft or internal or whatever... Then blargh.

I've never been much for this hocus pocus and never will. Like someone said it should all be leading to the same place anyway. And to for me who has only practiced full contact karate it makes absolute sense that the more I train the more I end up focusing on movements that are far less visible upon external examination.

"The external martial arts, although engaging the body as a whole in generating power sequentially, do not use the body in a complete unit as do the internal martial arts. "

&

"The sequence of training in external martial arts also differs in purpose. In the early stages of training, external martial arts place greater emphasis on increasing strength and endurance as the "raw material" to be refined later into precise technique. Whereas the goal of internal style stance training is to train the nervous system into the feeling of a unified body, the external martial artist stands to increase the strength, endurance and flexibility."

So to answer your original question Ken, I would ask do you feel that your current training develops unified whole body power rather than using the whole body to sequentially generate power? And do you feel you are training your nervous system to develop sensitivity to generate unified body power?

If the answer is "no" or "I'm not sure" to either or both questions, chances are you are not doing your art internally, at least in the Neijia understanding of internal. You might feel the movements come more easily to you, or you can relax more in order to get the same result you use to work hard for, but that isn't necessarily internal.